


middle school never ends

by extrastellar



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: CEO Akashi Seijuurou, Doctor Midorima Shintarou, Future Fic, M/M, Pro Basketball Player Aomine Daiki, Pro Basketball Player Haizaki Shougo, Pro Basketball Player Kagami Taiga, Pro Basketball Player Kise Ryouta, Pro Basketball Player Kuroko Tetsuya, Pro Basketball Player Murasakibara Atsushi, Redeemed Haizaki Shougo, Same-Sex Marriage, School Reunion, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:00:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23245906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extrastellar/pseuds/extrastellar
Summary: Shuuzou is 28, freshly divorced and hopelessly overworked. The email from the Akashi Group's heir inviting him to a Teiko Basketball reunion is just the cherry on top of his utterly crap year.(He still goes. Of course.)
Relationships: Aida Riko/Momoi Satsuki, Akashi Seijuurou/Mayuzumi Chihiro, Aomine Daiki/Wakamatsu Kousuke, Haizaki Shougo/Nijimura Shuuzou, Himuro Tatsuya/Murasakibara Atsushi, Kagami Taiga/Kuroko Tetsuya, Kasamatsu Yukio/Kise Ryouta, Midorima Shintarou/Takao Kazunari
Comments: 18
Kudos: 126





	middle school never ends

“Nijimura!”

Shuuzou tried not to wince as he turned around to where his superior was stomping towards him, looking absolutely furious, heels of dooming clacking aggressively enough on the hardwood floor to open up the portals to hell where the wearer had come from.

 _Maybe today_ , Shuuzou thought. _Maybe she’s going to fire me today._

“What is this poor excuse of a statement of defence?”, Watanabe snapped and tore the document Shuuzou had pulled another all-nighter in the office to finish right up in front of him.

Shuuzou’s eye twitched and he felt anger bubbling up inside of him. The other associates in the bullpen were already whispering and Shuuzou barely swallowed down the urge to yell at them. Sometimes he wished he was back in Teiko, where everyone – except maybe Haizaki – respected him as captain of the basketball team and member of the student council and no one dared to yell at him.

But alas, he was here, at Anderson Mori Tomotsune, one of the Big Five of Japan’s law firms, employed in the international law department. An absolute dream job for a guy with an American law degree, a mountain of debt and no desire to stay in the US, right?

Hah.

“I’m sorry, Watanabe-senpai”, he forced through clenched teeth. “I will revise it immediately.”

“You might as well write it all again”, Watanabe said and slammed the torn-up document on Shuuzou’s desk. “I expect better from a Berkeley graduate here at AMT. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am”, Shuuzou said. Watanabe nodded and marched away, her murderously high heels clacking on the hardwood floor.

“Tough time?”, the guy opposite Shuuzou in the bullpen, Yamamoto, said with a grimace. “If it’s any comfort to you, people quit because of her much earlier into their employment here, usually. I think she may be testing you.”

“Great”, Shuuzou muttered and rubbed his temples with the knuckles of his index fingers. He could feel another migraine coming on at the thought of spending another night at the office working on this damn statement of defence. And he had been sure he’d nailed it. Why was he even surprised?

Shuuzou glared at the torn-up result of countless late nights spent at this very desk. Maybe he should have stayed in the US after all. There were decent law firms there, too. And he had learned American lawyer lingo, not Japanese. He just translated from English to Japanese which was mostly why he got yelled at by Watanabe.

But back in the US was Anthony and Shuuzou had absolutely no desire to stay even within the same country as his ex-husband. Whether Shuuzou started anew across the country in the States or moved back to Japan didn’t really make any difference. Anthony was a domestic airline pilot; he’d probably end up running into him or being on a flight with him at some point.

Was he being a bit petty? Possibly. Had his three-year marriage crashed and burned spectacularly and were his worries reasonable? Absolutely.

So when he had received a contract from Anderson Mori Tomotsune after applying there, he’d jumped on the opportunity, ditched America and moved the centre of his life back to Tokyo.

Looking back, he’d take running into Anthony over working for Watanabe. Crazy, right?

Shuuzou sighed and opened his corporate emails, seeing that the amount of unread notifications had only climbed during the last twenty minutes since he had last checked them. Most of them didn’t even concern him directly, Shuuzou just being put in carbon copy for his information, the ones that did concern him he put the red flag for tracking on.

Shuuzou froze at the unread email at the top of his inbox. Blinked. Rubbed his eyes, double-clicked on it to open it in a separate window.

> _Dear Nijimura-san,_
> 
> _I hope this email finds you well. You are cordially invited to the Teiko Basketball Club Regulars’ reunion on October 9, at 8.00pm at the Akashi estate in Ota City, Tokyo._
> 
> _You may bring a plus one to this event. Please RSVP as soon as possible. You will receive further information upon your confirmation._
> 
> _宜しくお願い致します。/ Kind regards_
> 
> _Seijuurou Akashi_   
>  _Senior Executive Officer EMEA_
> 
> _Akashi Group Co., Inc. Europe_   
>  _100 King William St, London, EC4N 7BJ, United Kingdom_   
>  _Managing Director: Masaomi Akashi_

Shuuzou had a few, no scratch that, about a million questions. First: how had Akashi Seijuurou gotten his hands on Shuuzou’s corporate email? Then: Since when was Akashi Senior Executive EMEA and lived in London?! And third, very pressing: A Teiko basketball reunion?!

“Fuck this”, Shuuzou muttered in English and checked his calendar. Of course, October 9 was empty. Shuuzou had no social life to speak of here. Grindr at least saved his sex life.

Shuuzou hit reply.

> _Akashi,_
> 
> _how did you get this email address? My firm does not represent the Akashi Group. I am obliged to report any IT-security breaches._
> 
> _As for your cosy little reunion event, I am already occupied otherwise._
> 
> _Do not misuse my corporate email for your private matters again._
> 
> _-Nijimura_
> 
> _宜しくお願い致します。/ Best regards,_
> 
> _虹村 修造 | Shuuzou Nijimura_   
>  _Junior Associate International Corporate Law_
> 
> _Anderson Mori & Tomotsune LPC_   
>  _Otemachi Park Building_   
>  _1-1-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8136, Japan_

Shuuzou dragged Akashi’s email into his “done”-folder and opened the Word document for his statement of defence again.

 _I hate my life_ , he thought and started backspacing.

* * *

The clock on his oven showed 00:08am when Shuuzou finally stumbled into his apartment. His eyes were burning from staring at his screen all day and his stomach was aching – he had wolfed down some Thai takeout at his desk, but that had been over six hours ago. Still, he could barely keep his eyes open, so cooking was not going to happen now.

Shuuzou shuffled to his fridge and pulled the cold pizza from the night before out. All the junk food was starting to show on his body, the defined lines of his abdominal muscles already fading in favour of a layer of fat. Shuuzou grimaced. He still played basketball on the streetball courts sometimes and he did karate Tuesdays and Thursdays, which were the only days he actively made an effort of getting out of the office on time, oftentimes only possible if he showed up there in the morning long before 6am.

Shuuzou dropped onto his couch. The only advantage of this hell of a job was that he made a shit ton of money and could afford a pretty neat two-bedroom apartment in Bunkyou. He even had bathroom and toilet separately and a spacious bathtub. The floor-length windows in his living room didn’t hurt either.

Didn’t change the fact that he was only here to wolf down food half-asleep, shower and sleep. There was no one waiting for him to come home and Shuuzou still hadn’t had the time to properly decorate his place.

Shuuzou put the cold pizza aside to unlock his phone. There were multiple new emails in his corporate inbox and Shuuzou grimaced when he saw that he had been sent an Outlook appointment by Akashi.

“Fucking brat”, he muttered into the silence of his dark apartment and opened the email notification.

The appointment was for October 9, 8.00pm with an open end. Shuuzou’s mouth twisted into a displeased pout.

He’d told Akashi he wasn’t free, hadn’t he?!

> _Dear all,_
> 
> _thank you very much for RSVPing in a timely manner. I am pleased to announce that all of the invitees can make it._
> 
> _The full address to the location is: 3-chōme-10-17 Denenchōfu, Ota City, Tōkyō-to 145-0071_
> 
> _The dress code is smart casual. There will be guest rooms opened for those who wish to spend the night, especially if they have a long commute._
> 
> _Feel free to bring a change of clothes for a friendly game of basketball, too. The estates facilities are open to our guests, such as the guest rooms and sanitary facilities._
> 
> _I look forward to seeing you in four weeks’ time._
> 
> _宜しくお願い致します。/ Kind regards_
> 
> _Seijuurou Akashi_   
>  _Senior Executive Officer EMEA_
> 
> _Akashi Group Co., Inc. Europe_   
>  _100 King William St, London, EC4N 7BJ, United Kingdom_   
>  _Managing Director: Masaomi Akashi_

Shuuzou clicked his tongue and scrolled up to the addressees of the appointment. They were mostly corporate email addresses and Shuuzou could recognise Aomine’s, Kise’s, Kuroko’s, Momoi’s, Midorima’s, Murasakibara’s and, to his surprise, Haizaki’s.

He arched his brows. He didn’t expect Akashi to invite their local thug to his smart little reunion that even had a dress code, for god’s sake. But well, Haizaki had been a Teiko regular, so he supposed it made sense in that way.

Shuuzou was more pissed off that Akashi had blatantly ignored his refusal and added him to the appointment anyway. Shuuzou proceeded to piss himself off even more by hitting “accept appointment”.

“I hate this”, he murmured and closed the email application. What were his kouhai doing now? Akashi seemed to have taken over the European Middle Eastern African branch of his father’s company. He had received an invitation to his wedding to one Mayuzumi Chihiro a few years back, but hadn’t been able to attend, both timewise and mood-wise, being in the middle of a divorce.

Shuuzou googled Akashi quickly and scrolled through the results. Lots of press statements, business magazine rankings, an article on said wedding, multiple mentions of his name in reports about the Akashi Group. That was about to be expected.

Curiosity taking over him, Shuuzou typed Haizaki’s name into the search bar. His phone screen went black before the browser finished loading and left Shuuzou in the dark loneliness of his living room.

 _Dead battery_ , Shuuzou thought and smiled grimly. _Mood._

He finished the last pizza slice and moved towards the bedroom. He’d just shower in the morning and hope Watanabe would actually fire him tomorrow.

Shuuzou was no quitter, but he sure as fuck wouldn’t say no if his superior told him to pack his shit and leave.

“Become a lawyer, they said”, he mumbled as he stripped off his suit jacket and wrinkled button-down. “It’ll be fun, they said.”

Shuuzou stared at his bed. Empty, unwrinkled, lonely. Getting into bed now would mean finishing today and getting ready to start another terrible day tomorrow. He found himself dreading to go to bed.

Shuuzou sighed, plugged his phone in and crawled into bed, falling asleep to the deafening quiet of his apartment and the roaring silence of his mind.

* * *

October 9 was an irritatingly sunny and warm day for autumn. Shuuzou glared out of the window every chance he got.

What business did the sun have shining so bright on another dull and shitty day at the office? It was as if it was attempting to cheer him up or god forbid, hype him up for tonight’s miraculous reunion as Shuuzou had been calling it sarcastically in his head.

Moreover, why was it still light outside? It was already closing in on 5pm.

Shuuzou ground his teeth hard enough for Yamamoto opposite him to give him a worried look.

It took him twenty minutes to get from the office to his apartment and another 45min by train to get to Akashi’s place in Den-en-chofu. Because of course the little red-haired prick lived in one of the most luxurious districts of Tokyo. Who didn’t have former prime ministers for neighbours?

Shuuzou snorted and checked the time. He still needed to shower, pick up his suit from the drycleaner’s and have a light meal so that he didn’t show up at Akashi’s place completely starved.

“You’re on edge today, Nijimura-kun”, Hazuki from the desk to his right piped up.

Shuuzou grimaced. “I’ve got a middle school reunion coming up.”

“Oh, but that sounds nice!”, Hazuki said and smiled. “It’s probably been a long time since you last saw them, right?”

“You could say that”, Shuuzou muttered. He was not about to mention that he would be having a smart little dinner party with three NBA players, two B.League players, the heir of the Akashi Group, a high-level government official, and one of the most decorated cardiac surgeons of Japan. Just your ordinary middle school reunion, right? “I’m going to clock out in half an hour.”

“Watanabe will kill you”, Yamamoto said solemnly and Hazuki nodded.

“Pretty sure that that kind of abuse at least goes against AMT’s code”, Shuuzou said dryly and ducked down to hunch over his keyboard again. He might as well use the remaining thirty minutes to knuckle down, maybe that would milden Watanabe’s wrath come Monday. He still dared to hope sometimes even if he knew it was futile. He’d be beaten like mochi next time he showed his face at the office. Fun.

The clock in the bottom right corner of his screen finally changed to 17:30 and Shuuzou scrambled out of his desk, basically slamming his laptop shut and shoving it into his sideboard.

“Is middle school reunion code for Netflix and chill or why are you in such a hurry?”, Yamamoto asked, causing Hazuki to snicker.

“I gotta be at least five minutes early”, Shuuzou said and zipped his bag shut. “Gotta prove a point.”

“Sure”, Hazuki lilted. “Go get it, tiger.”

Shuuzou gave her a flat look and fled the bullpen under his coworker’s wolf-whistles and cat-calls. A smile pulled at his lips. It wasn’t all terrible at this job.

* * *

Shuuzou double-checked the address. Checked Google Maps again. Looked back up at the house in front of him.

Well, that seemed to be it.

Really, why was he even surprised. Akashi had literally stated that they were invited to the estate. This house fit the description. Shuuzou remembered his apartment and how it was already high-end-ish, but this was a different league. He didn’t even want to know who else was living on this street.

Shuuzou pocketed his phone and rang the doorbell next to the big black iron gate. There was a camera there and Shuuzou found himself tugging on his shirt collar. He had opted to go for suit pants, a white button down with a well-fitting dark blue sweater over it. It was posh enough, but still looked casual. In case of severe underdressing, Shuuzou could always snatch a suit jacket from somewhere in the house.

“Yes?”, a female voice spoke through the intercom and Shuuzou hurriedly looked into the camera.

“Good evening”, he said. “I’m here for Akashi Seijuurou’s get-together?”

“Your name, please?”, the woman on the other end asked.

“Nijimura Shuuzou.”

The gate buzzed open and Shuuzou stepped onto the immaculate driveway. The two-winged wooden door to the house opened and revealed a maid.

“Nijimura Shuuzou-san?”, she said. Shuuzou nodded. “Please follow me. Akashi-sama is already expecting you.”

Shuuzou suppressed the annoyed twitch of his eyebrow. Akashi-sama. “Thank you.”

He followed the maid inside and managed to keep his jaw from dropping. Working at AMT, he had seen plenty luxurious homes, but this was in a different league to his clients. Was that a goddamn chandelier? And was the ceiling real marble?

“Follow me please, sir”, the maid said and Shuuzou quickly followed her. His Oxfords were clacking on the polished hardwood floor. Undoubtedly horrendously expensive paintings were hung in the hallway and Shuuzou hoped the Picasso he’d just spotted wasn’t an original even if he knew neither Akashi nor his dad would hang a fake.

The maid opened another heavy two-winged door and stepped aside. “Here, sir.”

Shuuzou nodded in thanks and entered the dining hall because that was all it could be described as. Another chandelier hung from the ceiling and family paintings decorated the walls alongside many artistic sculptures placed on pedestals.

“Nijimura-san!”

Shuuzou tore his eyes away from the luxurious décor and turned towards his host. Akashi strode towards him, graceful as always with a serene smile on his face. He had grown, probably made the 180cm, but he was still shorter than Shuuzou.

“Akashi”, Shuuzou said and bowed the (he hoped) appropriate angle. “It’s been a while.”

Akashi smiled. “Yes. I am glad you could make it.”

“You kind of forced me to.”

“Now, what are you suggesting, Nijimura-san?” Akashi gave a light laugh. “May I introduce you to my husband?”

“Mayuzumi Chihiro.”

Shuuzou let out a yell and jumped, hand flying to his chest. “ _Shit–!_ “

A grey-haired man with eyes of the same colour, standing roughly two inches over Akashi, gave him an unimpressed look.

“Sorry”, Shuuzou said, heart still hammering in his chest. So this was Rakuzan’s former phantom player. Shuuzou could certainly see why Akashi had taught him misdirection.

“I’m used to it”, Mayuzumi said blankly. “I heard a lot about you.”

Shuuzou arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Any man who managed to keep this pile of colourful idiots under control deserves my respect”, Mayuzumi said, voice still monotone.

Shuuzou couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks.”

“So that’s the legendary Nijimura?”, a male voice piped up. “He doesn’t even have rainbow hair, Shin-chan!”

“Be quiet, fool.”

Shuuzou’s grin didn’t drop. He went over to the long table where two other figures were sitting, one he knew very well and the other he assumed was their plus-one.

“Midorima”, he said and held out a hand. “Good to see you haven’t changed. Where’s Oha Asa’s lucky item for today?”

Midorima harrumphed and shook Shuuzou’s hand. “I no longer rely on those, in fact.”

Shuuzou looked his green-haired kouhai over. His hair was no longer all over the place and actually styled somehow and his frames were not as rectangular, more rounded, modern and fit his face better. He had lost the chubby cheeks he still had as a middle-schooler, too and Shuuzou was sure that Midorima towered over him by a good bit and Shuuzou was already tall for a Japanese man with a height of 188cm.

“Hi!”, the man next to him chirped. He had black hair and a sharp widow’s peak, silver eyes and a broad, bright grin. “I’m Midorima Kazunari, Shin-chan’s husband!”

Shuuzou shook Midorima’s husband’s hand. “Nijimura Shuuzou.”

“So, you’re the guy who got Shin-chan obedient?”, Kazunari asked, eyes twinkling with mischief. “I’m impressed.”

“Takao!”, Midorima snapped and pushed his glasses up his nose, cheeks dusting red.

“Takao?”, Shuuzou asked.

Kazunari rolled his eyes. “My ‘maiden’ name. This big ol’ tsundere still calls me by that every once in a while. We have a ‘Takao’-jar, I think I’m about to be rich by the end of the year, ne, Shin-chan?”

Midorima only harrumphed again.

“Nijimura-san, please take a seat”, Akashi said and pointed at one of the chairs where an actual table-sign indicated his seat. “The others should arrive shortly.”

Shuuzou sat down just when the doorbell rang.

“So, how do you know each other?”, Shuuzou asked. If there was one thing he had learned in the US, it was how to make pointless small talk.

“Chihiro played at Rakuzan with me”, Akashi said and his smile at his husband was so gentle Shuuzou’s heart clenched in envy. “High school sweethearts, you might say.”

“Never refer to us like that again”, Mayuzumi grumbled. “We only started dating after I graduated.”

Shuuzou nodded. “And you live in London now?”

Akashi hummed in confirmation. “We married and settled down there. Father had planned for me to take over the EMEA branch anyway and Chihiro got an offer in London as well.”

“What do you do?”, Shuuzou asked, turned towards Mayuzumi.

“Journalist. British correspondent for Asahi Shimbun”, Mayuzumi said curtly. “Pays the bills. Not that I need to.”

Kazunari snickered. “Mayuzumi-san is a sugar baby confirmed.”

Mayuzumi gave him a flat look, but his lips were curved up ever so slightly. “Says you.”

“I’m proud of being Shin-chan’s loyal and devoted sugar baby”, Kazunari said with a wide grin and threw an arm around Midorima’s shoulder, who coughed and blushed even more.

“And you two?”, Shuuzou asked.

“We played together at Shuutoku!”, Kazunari announced. “Shin-chan was totally whipped for me the second we first played together, but I hated his guts at first, he crushed my team in middle school.”

Shuuzou winced. He had heard of Teiko’s victory-only strategy and Kiyoshi had told him about the crushing defeat he had suffered and the finale Teiko vs. Meiko.

“Anyway, Shin-chan wanted to tap it _so_ bad”, Kazunari went on, ignoring his husband’s sputtering. “We officially got together in second year, moved in together for university, boy, was that a trying time, right, Shin-chan? Med school is no joke. So now Shin-chan is a cardiac surgeon at The University of Tokyo hospital and I’m a paramedic!”

Shuuzou arched both brows. Kazunari certainly seemed like the type to drive like the devil, but Shuuzou wouldn’t have put him in the medical field at first – but then again, he only knew the guy for five minutes.

“And none of you continued basketball?”, Shuuzou asked.

All four shook their heads.

“No time”, Mayuzumi said. Kazunari nodded.

“A professional basketball career was never in the cards for me”, Akashi said, not entirely without ruefulness.

Shuuzou winced. He knew Akashi loved basketball like little else, the sport being a memento of his dead mother. That he had been forced to give it up in favour of his father’s must have been hard.

“Becoming a doctor has been my goal ever since middle school”, Midorima said primly. “When forced to choose between medical school and professional basketball, the answer was clear as day.”

 _Classic Midorima-esque answer_ , Shuuzou thought, feeling slightly nostalgic at how little his kouhai had changed after all these years.

The door to the dining hall opened and in stomped a big sand-blond man, dragging none other than Aomine Daiki behind him.

“-swear to god, this is _your_ middle school reunion, not mine”, the blond man scolded. Aomine yawned but put up no resistance in being pulled along. “You could’ve at least put in some effort, there’s a _dress code_.”

“Half of these people saw me naked in the Teiko showers, why bother dressing up?”, Aomine drawled and gave a wave. “Osu. Good to see y’all.”

Aomine was wearing light blue skinny jeans and Air Jordans, an untucked black button down and a leather jacket, a cap on his head. His plus-one on the other hand had actually dressed up according to the dress code.

“Aomine”, Midorima said darkly. “I see you are still the same sloth.”

“Midorima”, Aomine said with a lazy grin. “I see you’re still a stick-in-the-mud.”

Kazunari snickered and Akashi had to hide his smile behind a hand.

“Wow, thirty seconds here and you’ve already insulted someone”, the blond man alongside Aomine sad in exasperation and rubbed his temple. “This will be a long night.”

Aomine grinned and leaned over to press a kiss to the man’s cheek. “You can do it, babe.”

The Generation of Miracles’ ace and current LA Lakers’ Power Forward turned back to the people at the table and his brows lifted when he spotted Shuuzou.

“Oh, senpai”, he said. “Didn’t expect to see ya here.”

“I was a Teiko regular and captain”, Shuuzou said dryly. “There is no reason why I shouldn’t be here, brat.”

Aomine grinned. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Nijimura Shuuzou?”, Aomine’s boyfriend (partner? Husband?) asked and walked over, hand outstretched. He was tall, a bit taller than Aomine even, and broader than the Blue Miracle too. “You were basically a celebrity in my generation’s middle school basketball.”

“Thanks, kind of had my thunder stolen by these guys, though”, Shuuzou said and gestured at his kouhai. “And you are?”

“Wakamatsu Kousuke”, the blond man said and jerked his head in Aomine’s general direction. “This idiot’s husband.”

Aomine gave a mock-salute at that. “Present.”

“Wakamatsu”, Shuuzou repeated. That name rang a bell. “You were a pretty good Center our year.”

Wakamatsu puffed his chest out. “Well, yeah. Top 3. Only outshone by Kiyoshi and Nebuya.”

“And Murasakibara and Ootsubo.”

“Shut up, Daiki. We’re talking about my year.”

“Doesn’t change the facts.”

Wakamatsu threw his husband an exasperated look. Aomine just grinned and went on to greet the rest of the table.

“Ah! Aominecchi got here before us, Yukio!”

Shuuzou looked towards the door and was immediately blinded by the walking ray of sunshine that was Kise Ryouta.

“Nijimuracchi!”, Kise shrieked and tackle-hugged Shuuzou before he could side-step. “I’ve missed you!”

“Give the guy room to breathe!”, a shorter man with black hair and steel-blue eyes called and pulled at the back of Kise’s immaculately tailored suit jacket.

 _Kasamatsu Yukio_ , Shuuzou remembered. He had been one of the best Point Guards in the nation and captain of the blue elites of Kaijo. Shuuzou had wished to execute his drives as well as this guy.

Kise pulled back, still smiling bright enough to actually hurt Shuuzou’s eyes. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself! It’s been so long!”

“Yeah, yeah”, Shuuzou said and reached up to pat Kise’s head. His kouhai had three inches over him so the motion felt kind of awkward, but Kise beamed anyway. “Glad to see you haven’t lost your shine.”

Kise winked. “Still got that modelling glamour going for me, senpai!”

“Stop bragging”, Kasamatsu scolded and Shuuzou held a hand out to him.

“Kasamatsu-san”, he said. “You were a legend in basketball in my year.”

Kasamatsu gave a small, proud smile and grabbed his hand in a firm shake. “Thanks. You weren’t bad yourself, Nijimura Shuuzou.”

“So, you two are…?”, Shuuzou started and looked between the two of them.

Kise smiled, wrapped an arm around Kasamatsu’s shoulders and held up his right hand where a golden wedding band glinted on his ring finger. “Married!”

“It’s already been two years, I don’t get why he still gets excited over it like that”, Kasamatsu grumbled, but he didn’t push Kise’s arm off.

Shuuzou thought it was pretty cute and his stomach clenched in awareness of his own painful singleness.

“Akashicchi! Aominecchi! Midorimacchi!”, Kise called and bounced over to the table, hugging his former teammates, who either let it happen passively (Aomine), returned the hug with a fond pat (Akashi) or shoved the blond puppy off (Midorima).

Shuuzou smiled at the familiar antics.

“No plus-one for you?”, Kasamatsu asked.

Shuuzou grimaced. “Ah… no. I got divorced earlier this year.”

“Oh.” Kasamatsu winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, he’s still in the US, so I don’t have to see him anymore”, Shuuzou said with a shrug. “Work keeps me busy enough.”

“What do you do?”, Kasamatsu asked while Kise babbled to his teammates in the background.

“Lawyer at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune”, Shuuzou said. “Big shot firm.”

“One of the Big Four, yeah, I know them”, Kasamatsu said. “You don’t sound too happy.”

“Let’s just say it’s not what I imagined it to be.”

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” Shuuzou shrugged again. “What do you do?”

“Sky marshal”, Kasamatsu said. “You know, the undercover cops on flights. I’m also in an indie band. Guitarist.”

Shuuzou nodded. “That’s cool, you gotta send me your Spotify so I can try it out. Kise’s still playing for the Warriors, right?”

Kasamatsu huffed. “Yeah. We don’t see each other a lot. Either he’s on the road for games or modelling gigs, or I’m somewhere in the air over the Pacific Ocean.”

“You seem to manage well enough?”

Kasamatsu smiled. “I guess.”

The doorbell interrupted them and moments later, none other than Shuuzou’s ex-boyfriend stepped inside the salon.

“Tatsuya”, he said, eyes wide. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

Tatsuya still looked like he had ten years ago and Shuuzou suddenly felt 16 years old again, playing streetball with this unfairly talented and unfairly beautiful guy that ended up being his first ever boyfriend.

“Shuu”, Tatsuya said, his one uncovered eye wide in surprise. “It’s been a while. Five years since you moved out of LA?”

“Worst decision of my life”, Shuuzou said. He had moved because of Anthony, to Atlanta, where the airline his then-husband worked for had its seat. “Anthony and I divorced.”

“I’m sorry to hear that”, Tatsuya said. “But I did always say you two didn’t go well together.”

Shuuzou rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t give me the ‘I told you so’-speech, I learned my lesson the hard way. So why are you here?”

“Tatsu-chin~”, a long drawl came from behind – no, _above_ – Tatsuya. Shuuzou tipped his head back and looked into the violet eyes of one way too tall Murasakibara Atsushi.

“I’m Atsushi’s husband”, Tatsuya said with a gentle smile. “Atsushi, Shuu and I know each other from high school in LA.”

Shuuzou jutted his upper lip out in a pout. “How come I wasn’t invited to the wedding?”

Tatsuya gave an apologetic smile. “It was a small ceremony. Only family and groomsmen and groomsmaids. Sorry, Shuu.”

Not that Shuuzou was genuinely mad. If it was a small and intimate ceremony, you didn’t typically invite your old middle school basketball captain/ex-boyfriend.

Murasakibara narrowed his eyes at Shuuzou. “Mura-chin, you’re so short.”

“Call me senpai, damnit”, Shuuzou heard himself say. “And bow down so that I can pat your head, you beanstalk.”

Murasakibara actually gave him a lazy smile at that and leaned down far enough that Shuuzou could ruffle his long violet hair. It was still unfairly soft and smooth. Shuuzou remembered how Kise had regularly thrown tantrums because Murasakibara literally used cheap konbini two-in-one-shampoo.

“Murasakibara”, Akashi said from the table. “I’m glad you could make it. How was your flight?”

“Long and cramped”, Murasakibara drawled and yawned. “Aka-chin, where’s the food?”

“Atsushi, manners please”, Tatsuya said.

“The appetiser will be served once we are complete”, Akashi said and gestured to the table. “Please, take a seat in the meantime.”

Murasakibara had a seat at the head of the table where he had the most room for his long legs, Tatsuya at his side, to Shuuzou’s left. Shuuzou chose that moment to glance at the sign on the placemat next to him. ‘Haizaki Shougo’, it read, and Shuuzou could already feel a headache coming on.

“You came all the way from LA too?”, Aomine asked.

“Yeah”, Murasakibara said. “When did you land, Mine-chin, Waka-chin?”

“That’s Wakamatsu-san to you!”, Wakamatsu bristled but the way Aomine, Murasakibara and Tatsuya reacted indicated that this must be a common conversation.

“11 this morning”, Aomine said and smirked. “Plenty of time to sleep the jetlag off and, you know, have se–”

“Daiki!”, Wakamatsu hissed and slapped a hand over his husband’s mouth. “C’mon!”

“Aomine!”, Midorima called. “Do not be distasteful, in fact!”

Aomine pried Wakamatsu’s hand off and yawned. “Distasteful? Get the prick outta your ass, Midorima. You’ve been banging Takao since second year of high school.”

“Can confirm”, Kazunari said and lifted his hand.

Midorima’s face flushed red. “That is none of your business, in fact!”

Aomine slid down in his seat. “Gee, calm down, m’just teasin’. Oi, Kise, you ready for the next season?”

Kise’s million-dollar-model-smile was immediately replaced by a grim smile that Shuuzou remembered from various games. He felt a shiver go down his spine. “You’re on, Aominecchi. I’ll hand your ass to you.”

“Didn’t you say that last time, too?”, Wakamatsu said and smirked. “Daiki wiped the floor with you.”

“I think you forgot second year Interhigh Kaijo vs. Touou already, Wakamatsu”, Kasamatsu said with a similar smirk. “Time for a repeat of that.”

“What’s it matter~”, Murasakibara drawled. “I’ll crush you all anyway.”

Shuuzou remembered that Murasakibara played for the LA Clippers, a team known for its defence. He had been more of a Lakers guy back when he had still lived in LA and no one was a Lakers and a Clippers fan. He kept on being a Lakers fan even when Anthony rooted for the Atlanta Hawks after they moved.

“You’re welcome to try, Murasakibaracchi~”, Kise lilted and winked at his former teammate. Shuuzou could definitely see why Kise was recently voted to be Japan’s sexiest man alive. Objectively speaking. Shuuzou wasn’t a homewrecker and he’d known Kise since the guy had bumbled around through middle school.

“Oi, you guys can’t make rivalry promises without Kuroko and Kagami!”, Kazunari called.

“Kuroko doesn’t play in the NBA, Kazunari-kun”, Akashi said. “Though I do agree about Kagami.”

“Where is Bakagami anyway”, Aomine grumbled. “And Satsuki! Giving me shit about being late and then not showing up on time herself. Hypocrite.”

“I see you learned a new word, Aomine”, Midorima said and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

Aomine gave him a foul look. “Shuddup, Midorima.”

The doorbell cut them off. Akashi smiled.

“It seems our latecomers have finally arrived.”

Midorima scoffed. “At last.”

The door to the dining hall opened and in came an entire group of people. Shuuzou recognised Kuroko, Kagami and Momoi, the other woman with them was unknown to him and the other man with them seemed strangely familiar.

“Nijimura-senpai!”, Momoi called and strode over, smiling brightly. Shuuzou smiled and returned her hug in greeting. “It’s been so long!”

“Yeah”, he said and smiled at her. He had always felt particularly protective of Momoi, even if she could handle herself well enough. She reminded him of his little sister a lot, maybe that was why.

Momoi had grown a lot since middle school, her pink hair cut back to shoulder-length, dressed in a knee-long mint cocktail dress with a black blazer and bright pink heels that could stab a man.

“This is my wife, Riko”, Momoi said and gestured to the brown-haired woman beside her.

“Aida Riko”, she said and shook Shuuzou’s hand with a firmer grip than he had expected. She did seem kind of familiar now, hadn’t she been the one who coached the Vorpal Swords team back then? “I commend you for captaining the Generation of Miracles.”

“Thanks”, Shuuzou said and let the two women past him to greet the hosts and the others. He was starting to think that captaining the Generation of Miracles was his biggest achievement in life – and he had graduated from Berkeley. “Kuroko!”

The blue-haired man had grown, not a lot, but he had probably made the 175cm. His expression was still neutral, but he was smiling at Shuuzou and bowed politely.

“It is very good to see you again, Nijimura-senpai”, Kuroko said. “Though it is actually Kuroko-Kagami nowadays.”

Shuuzou glanced at the tall, broad, dark red-haired man next to Kuroko. “Sorry. Then you’re the Kagami-part of the hyphenated name, right? Kiyoshi told me about you.”

Kagami, who looked absolutely frightening at first, grinned at him with enough brightness to illuminate the entire room. “You know Kiyoshi-senpai? Nice! I’m Kuroko-Kagami Taiga, I play for the Chicago Bulls.”

 _Another NBA player_ , Shuuzou thought and corrected his mental count of NBA players that would be present today to four. “Thanks for bringing this lot back down to earth.”

Kagami bellowed out a laugh. “Any time! Uh, sir!”

Shuuzou found himself grinning alongside Kuroko’s husband. His good mood was contagious and his clumsy polite speech pretty endearing.

“Save the best for last, eh, senpai?”

Shuuzou turned towards the fourth person of the recently arrived entourage and froze.

“Haizaki”, he said, but couldn’t get out more.

Haizaki looked _good_. Not that he had been ugly before, except for that time with the cornrows that Akashi had told him about back in high school, but he looked _hot_ now. If Shuuzou were to stumble across his profile on Grindr, he’d absolutely smash the super-like button.

Haizaki was taller than him, by a good two or three inches at least, and broader, too. He had googled him before and knew that he played for Alvark Tokyo in the B.League, alongside Kuroko, and the team was coached by Aida. But Haizaki had dropped the constant smug smirk in favour of a, yeah okay, still smug look, but it didn’t infuriate Shuuzou as much as it did in middle school. The biggest difference was his hair, though – it was neither in those terrible cornrows anymore, nor the uncontrollable messy mop of silver spikes. It was back to silver and still messy, but in an intentional, good-looking kind of way. It was also longer than it had been in middle school, tied into a half-up, half-down bun. Shuuzou thought the style would look ridiculous on most guys, but Haizaki could strangely pull it off.

“You’re shorter than I remembered you”, Haizaki said and Shuuzou snapped out of his admiring (what the fuck!).

“You’re still as bratty as I remembered you”, Shuuzou shot back.

Haizaki laughed, genuinely without the malice that had been ever-present in middle school, and _fuck_ , Shuuzou was so whipped already. “C’mon, give a guy a chance, senpai~ it’s been what, 13 years? I could have changed!”

“Cut it out, Haizaki-kun”, Aida called from the table.

Haizaki lifted both hands in defeat. “Sorry, sorry, coach.”

Shuuzou stared at Aida in awe. One order and Haizaki budged? He needed to talk to her more later.

“Now that everyone is here”, Akashi said, giving the assembled a warm smile. “We can start with the dinner.”

“Thank god~”, Murasakibara drawled.

“I’m starving”, Aomine, Haizaki and Kagami said at the same time, shooting each other challenging looks immediately.

“Oi!” Shuuzou barked, falling back into his captain voice naturally. “No eating competitions!”

The three men groaned.

“Ugh, you’re such a killjoy, senpai”, Aomine drawled. “Kou, you up for an eating competition?”

Wakamatsu gave his husband a look. “You’re on a diet. And so is Kagami.”

Kagami made a pathetic little noise and Kuroko patted his shoulder.

“And Haizaki-kun”, Aida added and shot her player a sharp look, making Haizaki groan in annoyance.

“You gonna tattle on me?”, Aomine asked. “Seriously, let’s have some fun.”

Wakamatsu scoffed. “You skip gym every other day, like hell am I letting you cheat on your diet too. Your coach thinks I’m the one who feeds you junk, I don’t wanna have him yelling at me over the phone again.”

“Tch. Asshole.”

“Tch yourself. Bastard.”

They gave each other a look until Wakamatsu budged with a groan.

“Fine, we can stop by Maji tomorrow and have that stupid eating competition.”

Aomine pumped his fist. “Yes!”

The maids started serving the appetiser, a delicious smelling soup, and poured wine into the waiting wine glasses.

Akashi rose with his glass. “If I could have your attention for a moment.”

Murasakibara, Aomine, Kagami and Haizaki grumbled, but obliged alongside the other guests.

Akashi smiled. “Thank you for agreeing to meet up here. I know many of us live far away these days, which is why this evening is particularly memorable. I hope you enjoy tonight and please, dig in.”

A chorus of “Ittadakimasu” echoed around the table and everyone started spooning up their soup.

“So”, Shuuzou said and leaned forward. “Aomine.”

Aomine stopped short with the spoon in his mouth. “Huh?”

“Dai-chan!”, Momoi scolded and slapped his biceps. “Manners!”

Aomine rolled his eyes and put the spoon down. “Happy now, Satsuki? Great. What’d you wanna ask, senpai?”

“You and Wakamatsu. How’d that happen?”, Shuuzou asked. Wakamatsu was chatting to Kasamatsu on his other side, so this was actually a good moment to ask.

Aomine shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. “Dunno. Second year of high school. Vorpal Swords. Got closer, started dating. Kou graduated, I got scouted by the Lakers, Kou went to the academy to become a firefighter. Long distance relationships suck, by the way. Only saw each other during the off-season. Kou moved to LA and we got married.”

“You are a truly stellar storyteller”, Mayuzumi said dryly.

“Gimme a break, that’s what I have a PR team for”, Aomine said and shrugged. He played with the silver wedding band on his finger. “Been married nearly a year now. I was the last of the Miracles to tie the knot.”

Shuuzou glanced to Haizaki at his right where his former kouhai was talking to Kuroko. His hands were bare. “He’s still single.”

Aomine shrugged. “He’s just an honorary Miracle. Tetsu, Satsuki and Kagami say he’s changed, and I guess I believe them.”

Shuuzou could see why. Haizaki was animatedly talking to Kuroko and Aida, grinning earnestly and looking a whole lot less angry than back in middle school. The new hairstyle made him look a lot less thuggish, even if he still had his piercings and from this angle, Shuuzou could spot a tattoo peeking out from under his collar, making him briefly wonder how far down it went.

“Oi”, Shuuzou called on a whim. A bunch of colourful heads and others turned towards him, probably muscle memory from being yelled at in that exact tone repeatedly in middle school. “Since I guess I’m the only one who’s kinda been out of the loop, let’s do a quick flashlight on what happened in y’all’s lives ever since high school, huh?”

“I’ll start!”, Kise called immediately, receiving collective groans in response. He pouted exaggeratedly and wiped away a fake tear. “Mean~!”

“Try not to get too detailed, Ryouta”, Kasamatsu said.

“Noted!”, Kise said and mock-saluted. “Alrighty! I wiped the floor with Aominecchi’s ass during second year–”

“Oi, how is that relevant?!”, Aomine groused.

“Just wanted to remind everyone of that glorious match”, Kise said and winked. “Anyway, Kaijo won the Interhigh in second year of high school and I decided to use that opportunity to ask Yukio out!”

Kasamatsu coughed, red creeping up his neck.

“Now graduation came and went, and I was approached by a Golden State Warriors scout who signed me! So I moved to the States at the wee age of 19 and started to play for the best team in the whole NBA– ”

Another round of groans. Shuuzou chuckled.

“Shuddup, Kise!”, Aomine snarked. “The Lakers are the best!”

“Stop spreading lies, Kise”, Kagami said through a mouthful of food. “And shuddup, Aomine, the Bulls are the best, obviously.”

“I’ll crush you, Se-chin, Mine-chin, Kaga-chin”, Murasakibara drawled.

Kise squawked. “You guys take critique so badly!”

“Kise”, Kasamatsu said and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Get on with it.”

“Sorry, Yukio~”, Kise said cheerfully. “Anyway! I missed Yukio lots and went back every off-season, but that was so tough!”

Shuuzou couldn’t even imagine a long-distance relationship of that calibre.

“So on my 23rd birthday, Yukio applied for a transfer to San Francisco! He works as a sky marshal for All Nippon Airways, you see!” Kise gave his husband a bright, loving smile. “That’s so cool!”

Kasamatsu ducked his head. “I’ll hit you.”

Kise laughed. “Sorry, Yukio! Anyway, I started modelling in the US too, that’s still going pretty well, and I proposed to Yukio a year after we moved in together! Our wedding was amazing, Nijimuracchi! We had all this–”

“This is where I stop you”, Kasamatsu cut in. “Trust me, you wouldn’t get your turn until midnight.”

“Don’t doubt it”, Haizaki said and received a foul look from Kise. Seemed like there was still a bit of bad blood between them, Shuuzou thought, but then Kise stuck his tongue out at Haizaki and grinned.

Wow. So even Kise and Haizaki got over their shit? Shuuzou had really been out of touch with his kouhai for too long.

“Haizaki”, Akashi said. “I believe it’s your turn.”

“Ah, right, just a sec”, Haizaki said and finished his soup quickly. “Alright, where to start for our beloved captain-sama!”

Shuuzou gave him his still all-powerful side-eye. Haizaki flinched.

“Aaaaaanyway”, he started. “Ryouta kicked my ass at the Winter Cup in first year, Daiki socked me in the face and I kind of got my shit together after that.”

“Starting with your hair”, Kuroko said blankly. “It was truly the stuff of nightmares, Haizaki-kun.”

“Will you ever let that go?”, Haizaki said. “I got rid of the cornrows, didn’t I?”

“My mind is scarred forever.”

“Ah, fuck you.”

“Language”, Shuuzou said, out of instinct, only catching himself when the words were already out of his mouth. “Ah, crap, sorry. Instinct.”

Haizaki gave him an amused smile. “Heh.”

Shuuzou felt his cheeks heat up. “Just – get on with it.”

“Yeah, yeah~”, Haizaki drawled. “So got my shit together about basketball, reconciled with the Skittles here, took a while but it worked out, so that’s cool. Graduation came up, didn’t really know what to do with myself beside basketball so I tried out for the Alvarks and they signed me.”

“Because I put in a good word with the head coach who happened to be my father at the time”, Aida said.

“Sure thing, coach.” Haizaki shrugged. “Basketball was going well, then my girlfriend of three years cheated on me, so I had to return that expensive fucking ring I bought, that still sucks.”

Shuuzou blinked. That was something he hadn’t expected. If anything, Haizaki had seemed more likely to be the one in a relationship to cheat.

“My boyfriend after that also cheated on me, put me in a real slump”, Haizaki went on. “Guess I’m just not lucky in that department, but I’ve got enough basketball championships under my belt to compensate. And there’s that. Senpai, your turn.”

Shuuzou startled. “Right. Uh. My dad recovered from the cancer, but he died in a mugging a few years ago.”

“My condolences”, Akashi said.

“Thanks”, Shuuzou said. His father’s sickness, as bad as it sounded, had prepared him well for the inevitability of his death and he had dealt with his father’s passing a lot better than he had expected, especially in regards to how he went off the rails when doctors first approached them about turning off the machines when his father’s cancer had been at its worst. “I went to law school at Berkeley and married, moved to Atlanta for him. Marriage didn’t last, we got divorced earlier this year and now I’m working at Anderson Mori Tomotsune and haven’t had a social life ever since I started there.”

“Sounds fun”, Kazunari said.

Shuuzou shrugged. “It’ is what it is, right? Murasakibara, your turn.”

Murasakibara huffed. “Do I have to~?”

“Yes”, Tatsuya said firmly before Shuuzou could reprimand his former kouhai. “Go on.”

“Fiiiine.” Murasakibara sat up properly. “Tatsu-chin moved back to LA after graduating Yosen and I got scouted by the Clippers.”

“Alex and I pulled a few strings, it’s usually rare for them to sign 18 year olds”, Tatsuya said and winked.

“Moved in together, got together and married”, Murasakibara went on. “Tatsu-chin’s a Clippers spokesman and assistant coach.”

“So he whips your ass into shape at home and at work?”, Kagami said and smirked. “Laaame.”

“Like Tetsu doesn’t have your balls in the palm of his hand, Kagami”, Aomine said and fist-bumped Wakamatsu. Seemed like the two of them frequently bullied Kagami together. Shuuzou thought it was an unlikely marital hobby, but to each their own. His and Anthony’s had been screaming at each other, after all.

“I’ll crush you, Kaga-chin”, Murasakibara drawled and reached over. Shuuzou slapped the back of his hand on instinct, but it still worked and Murasakibara drew his arm back.

“Aomine-kun is quite right”, Kuroko said, completely straight-faced and Takao, Kise and Haizaki burst into laughter.

Shuuzou found himself grinning too, and in horror, that he was watching Haizaki and marvelled at how good his former kouhai looked when he wasn’t sneering.

 _Fuck my life_ , Shuuzou thought and pinched the back of his hand, earning him a raised eyebrow from Akashi. Shuuzou shrugged and shot him a look that was supposed to say “none of your goddamn business”, but Akashi only smiled knowingly. Gah. Shuuzou hated that.

“Aomine”, the host of the evening said while the maids collected the empty soup bowls. “It’s your turn.”

“Right, right~”, Aomine said and sat up, cracking his neck a few times, eliciting a flinch from Momoi. “Sorry, Satsuki. Anyway. Graduated from Touou and got scouted by the Lakers, basically a dream come true. Kousuke was at the National Firefighter’s Academy. Had a similar arrangement like Kise and Kasamatsu, seeing each other during the off-season only.”

He shrugged. “Kinda sucked. A lot. Kou moved to LA after he finished the academy and we kind of picked up where we left off.”

“Fucking, eating and playing ball?”, Kagami asked and Aomine and Wakamatsu both flipped him off.

“Dai-chan! Wakamatsu-san!”, Momoi snapped and both jolted. Shuuzou smirked. He was proud of Momoi for having _their_ balls in the palm of her hands.

“This idiot took an eternity to propose”, Aomine went on and Wakamatsu gave him a weird look.

“Uh, _you_ proposed!”

“But you definitely wanted to do it first.”

“Who cares about that?!”

“Anyway”, Momoi cut them off. “Dai-chan proposed to Wakamatsu-san two years ago and they got married last year. I organised the entire wedding, if it had been left up to them, they would have gotten married in Maji Burger.”

“That’s actually a good idea, why didn’t we think of that?”, Wakamatsu muttered and Aomine shrugged.

“Thank you, Momoi”, Shuuzou said. “Do you want to continue?”

Momoi smiled. “Sure, senpai. Well, Riko-chan here took awfully long to woo…”

Aida nearly choked on her wine. “Hey! Not true!”

“It kind of is, Coach”, Kuroko said and shook his head in exasperation. “I was led to believe I would have to intervene for you to recognise Momoi-san’s advances.”

“Extra practice for you next week, Kuroko-kun”, Aida said sweetly and Kuroko turned a little green.

“Oof, that’s harsh”, Haizaki mumbled from next to Shuuzou.

“When I finally succeeded in asking Riko-chan out, she graduated!” Momoi sighed. “Luckily, she stayed at Seirin to coach part-time while studying sports science and management at Keio. So we weren’t that far apart! I enrolled at Todai for law after graduating.”

Shuuzou perked up. “Oh, you’re a lawyer too?”

“I was, for a short time after graduating”, Momoi said. “I was then offered a position in the department of justice where I still work in close cooperation with Kouchou.”

“Kouchou?” Shuuzou arched both brows. “I suppose it would make sense for you to work for the secret service.”

Momoi winked. “Just you wait, Nijimura-senpai, I will be Japan’s first female prime minister.”

“I’m not even doubting it”, Akashi said solemnly and Momoi brightened up at the praise. “You have my full support, Momoi.”

“Are we witnessing lobbyism, in fact?”, Midorima asked and pushed his glasses up.

“Lobbyism is just negatively connotated, it’s actually called Public Affairs and organisations fighting for better women’s rights or LGBT rights in front of the government are also practicing lobbyism”, Tatsuya piped up.

“Of course the PR guy would say that”, Mayuzumi said dryly.

“The PR guy is right”, Shuuzou said and shrugged. “When did you and Riko marry, Momoi?”

“Oh, right”, Momoi said and tossed her shoulder-length hair back. “Riko-chan was assistant coach for the Alvarks at the time and we were visiting Dai-chan in the US when Riko-chan proposed on the spot.”

Aida’s face was beet-red. Shuuzou got the gist.

“Vegas?”, he asked.

“Vegas”, Momoi said and nodded solemnly. “What a party that was!”

“I was so drunk”, Aomine said and pressed a hand to his mouth. “Ugh, fuck, just thinking about these caipis…”

“You drank caipirinha?”, Kazunari asked. “You?”

“They’re good!”, Kise piped up. "I like them!"

Aomine’s face seemed ashen. “Can we stop talking about the caipis? I’ll puke.”

“I would prefer if you didn’t”, Akashi said.

They were interrupted by the main course being served. Aomine, Murasakibara and Haizaki immediately started squabbling over the food, Momoi trying to rein in her quasi-brother, Midorima yelling at Midorima, Kuroko attempting to keep Haizaki in check and Akashi watching over them with a serene smile.

Shuuzou’s heart clenched almost painfully.

Shit.

He’d missed this a lot more than he’d thought.

* * *

They had relocated to a sitting room with a sprawling terrace after finishing dinner. Wine was generously given out and Shuuzou was nursing his third glass. Bless his non-existent social life for raising his alcohol tolerance significantly.

Mayuzumi was sitting with Kazunari and Kuroko, talking and Shuuzou even caught the two shadows laughing or at least smiling at some of Kazunari’s quips.

Kagami was bickering with Aomine and Kise; Aida, Wakamatsu and Kasamatsu were at the bar inspecting the different labels on the bottles. Midorima was invested in a game of Shogi with Akashi, Momoi observing and whispering tips into either one’s ear every once in a while. God knew where Tatsuya and Murasakibara were, but Shuuzou would rather not know.

“Don’t get drunk, senpai”, a familiar voice spoke from his right and Shuuzou turned to see Haizaki approaching, a glass of whiskey in his hand. His former kouhai had a slight flush to his cheeks, whether from the alcohol or the cold of the October night out on the terrace, Shuuzou couldn’t tell.

“M’not driving tonight”, Shuuzou said and took another sip of his wine. He’d never liked whiskey that much.

Haizaki snorted. “Disgustingly responsible as usual, huh, senpai?”

“Shut up”, Shuuzou said, but it held no bite. He was way too relaxed for that right now, a feeling he hadn’t had… in a very long time. Before things had started to go south with Anthony. Wow, that was a long time ago. “Hey, Haizaki.”

“Hm?”

“I’m proud of you.”

Haizaki sputtered on his whiskey and coughed violently. Shuuzou took that opportunity to generously whack his former kouhai on the back.

“You still got that mean slap, huh”, Haizaki said with a grimace after having cleared his airways. “Ow.”

Shuuzou shrugged. “I still do karate, if you wanna test that too.”

“Pass.” Haizaki rolled his shoulders.

Shuuzou watched him intently. Sure, it had been thirteen years but he hadn’t imagined Haizaki to change like that even in more than a decade. It was unfair of him, he knew that, but some part of him had believed Haizaki would stay a thug forever.

Seemed like he’d been wrong. And Shuuzou had never been more relieved to be in the wrong, too.

Haizaki had always reminded him of himself back in first year of middle school, rough, beating people up, being a general asshole to everyone and everything. Not to mention the bleached blond hair. Ugh. Bad times indeed. He’d hoped to keep Haizaki on the straight and narrow, seeing that the kid had struggled with similar issues back then. No one had really known at the time, but while Shuuzou’s dad was in the hospital, Haizaki’s had just died. Then they had moved to the US and Shuuzou had only received the occasional update from Akashi, but even that had thinned out and stopped sometime during the Miracles’ late second year of high school.

“I meant it”, Shuuzou said and swirled the wine in his glass. “I’m proud of you. You got pretty far.”

“I mean I guess”, Haizaki muttered and Shuuzou could feel the heat of his body from how close they were standing. “Sorry about your dad, senpai.”

Shuuzou sighed. “Thank you.”

“And about your husband.”

“Ach, that’s alright”, Shuuzou said and made a face. “He was a dick.”

Haizaki let out a huff of laughter. “Hah! Feel ya.”

That was something Shuuzou had thought about earlier too. “I didn’t know you swung both ways.”

Haizaki shrugged and emptied the rest of his whiskey. “Doesn’t everyone at Teiko?”

“Coincidence”, Shuuzou said, but it was quite glaring, that all of Teiko’s star players were openly LGBTQ. “Still, I always felt like you were our token hetero guy.”

Haizaki snorted and put his glass down on the stone wall with a clank. “Right. Literally everyone but you knew, senpai.”

Shuuzou arched an eyebrow. “Wait, really?”

Haizaki blew a stray strand of hair out of his face and leaned back against the stone wall. “I had a crush the size of fucking Asia on you. It was really pathetic.”

Shuuzou nearly dropped his glass. “Wait, what?”

“Like I said, you were literally the only one who didn’t know.”

Shuuzou had the wits to put his glass aside before he actually did drop it. Of all the things he’d expected Haizaki to say, it hadn’t been that.

“I didn’t know”, he said lamely.

Haizaki rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I _just_ said that. Fucking hell. So yeah, definitely not your token hetero guy. Should’ve asked Kubota or Sekiguchi to play the part.”

“Right”, Shuuzou said slowly. “Uh, how’s your mom?”

Haizaki lifted an eyebrow at him. “Fine. She roped my brother into her company so they’re the successful entrepreneurs now and I’m the basketball playing black sheep.”

Shuuzou laughed. “I think you still make more money than them.”

Haizaki was half-smiling and shrugged. “I dunno, I think it’s pretty even. They’re good. But you’re the lawyer here, rich guy.”

Shuuzou rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. All that cash can’t buy a social life and good mental health, sadly.”

“That bad?”

“You have no idea.” Shuuzou sighed and took his glass back in his hand. “I mean, this is the first time I’ve gone out on something else than a Grindr date ever since I started working at AMT.”

Haizaki huffed. “Wow. Your life’s fucking sad, senpai.”

Shuuzou gave him a flat look. “Don’t need you to tell me.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Haizaki huffed out a white puff of air. “S’good to see ya again, senpai.”

Shuuzou felt a smile pull at the corners of his mouth. “Likewise.”

The heavy silence between them was suddenly interrupted by the glass door to the terrace sliding open and Kise sticking his head outside.

“Nijimuracchi, Shougo-kun, we’re going to play ball now!”, he announced. “Let’s get changed!”

“Ready to have your ass handed to you?”, Haizaki said and pushed off the stone wall, walking past Shuuzou. Shuuzou tried not to inhale Haizaki’s cologne too obviously.

“In your dreams!”, Kise called and grinned. “I’m a Warriors starter, remember, Shougo-kun?”

“I told you, I give a shit about your fancy titles, Ryou~ta~-kun!”, Haizaki drawled and the two disappeared inside, leaving Shuuzou with an uncomfortable tingle in his stomach and the terrifying realisation that hadn’t Kise interrupted, Shuuzou would have probably kissed Haizaki.

* * *

The game was terrifying. They continuously switched out members, but Shuuzou, Akashi, Mayuzumi, Kasamatsu, Wakamatsu, Kazunari, Midorima and Tatsuya all had trouble keeping up with the absolute monsters Aomine, Kise, Kagami, Kuroko, Haizaki and Murasakibara had become as pro players.

Shuuzou laid on the asphalt ground of the court in the backyard of Akashi’s house, panting like he’d just ran a marathon and sweating up a storm.

“Out of form, senpai?”, Haizaki asked, bowed over him and grinning like a madman. At least he was also soaked in sweat, going up against NBA starters required even Haizaki Shougo to go all-out.

“Shut up”, Shuuzou managed to wrench out. “I sit at a fucking office desk all day.”

“Lame~”, Haizaki drawled and held out a hand. Shuuzou grabbed it and pulled himself into a sitting position. His t-shirt stuck to his body and he accepted the bottle of water Haizaki tossed him gratefully.

“You and Kuroko make a good team”, he said once he didn’t feel like puking up his lungs anymore. The rest of their get-together was in similar states of absolute exhaustion lying around the court, but all of them were grinning brightly – a sight Shuuzou had last seen at the beginning of the Miracles’ very first year of middle school and a sight that had vanished way too quickly.

“Thanks”, Haizaki said and poured the remainder of his water over his head. Shuuzou suddenly had to swallow. “Riko trained the shit out of us until we synced up.”

“And it only brought you victories”, Aida said and whacked her player up the back of his head. Haizaki winced. “Good game, Nijimura-kun. If you ever want to get back into proper shape, I can recommend my father’s gym.”

Shuuzou gave her a mirthless smile. “Thanks, but I get home after midnight most days. Not really time for the gym anymore.”

“It’s open 24/7”, Aida said and handed him a card. “Think about it. You still have the potential to be an amazing athlete.”

Shuuzou took the card. “Uh, thanks.”

Aida nodded and walked over to where Kagami was currently sprawled across Kuroko. Kazunari was doubled over and seemed like he was trying to keep his dinner down, Midorima fretting over him like a mother hen. Murasakibara leant against the fence, Tatsuya gulping down water like a drowning man next to him. Akashi rested his hands on his thighs, panting, Mayuzumi on the ground not too far away. Kasamatsu kicked Kise’s butt on the other end of the court, Shuuzou didn’t know why, but Kise didn’t look too apologetic. Aomine was still dangling from the hoop from his last dunk and Wakamatsu and Momoi tried to get him down before it broke.

“Thank you everyone”, Akashi spoke up and Aomine finally let go off the hoop, half-dropping into Wakamatsu’s arms, the former Center going down with a bunch of swearwords. Shuuzou was mildly pissed off at how Akashi only sounded a little bit short of breath. “I believe we have all enjoyed ourselves.”

“Tell that to my lungs”, Kazunari wheezed.

Akashi smiled. “You are free to stay the night. I have had guest bedrooms prepared accordingly. You may of course use the showers there, even if you do not plan to spend the night.”

“How generous”, Kagami grumbled and got off Kuroko. “Oi, Tetsuya – shit, Tetsuya, did I kill you?!”

Kuroko didn’t move. “I think so, yes.”

“Kagami”, Aida growled. “If you squashed my phantom sixth man, I will kick your ass all the way back to the US.”

Kagami immediately made a mad dash for the entrance to the house, a furious Aida on his heels while Kuroko sat up, looking paler than usual.

“I thought I was going to die”, Kuroko said.

Aomine snickered and pulled his friend up. “Sure thing, Tetsu. Oi, Kou, wanna hit the showers together?”

Wakamatsu threw a shoe at him but didn’t reject the offer. Shuuzou smirked.

“You stayin’?”, Haizaki asked.

Shuuzou shrugged. “I don’t think I can move anymore, so yeah, probably.”

“Cool, me too.” Haizaki rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms over his head. “Oi, Ryouta!”

Kise put his water bottle down. “Yeah?”

“I’m coming after you next time, you ass!”

Kise laughed, bright and cheery. “You can try!”

Shuuzou smiled. He’d really, _really_ missed this.

* * *

That shower had been more than rejuvenating. Shuuzou stepped out of the ensuite, towel around his waist and his hair dripping onto his shoulders. His muscles were already aching and sore and Shuuzou wondered if he could call in sick on Monday because of muscle soreness.

Probably not. Watanabe was most likely already awaiting him with the entire forces of hell behind her for leaving early today.

Shuuzou sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair. Maybe he should just quit. AMT wasn’t the only law firm with an international law department. The money wasn’t worth not having a social life or a love life or any kind of life.

A knock on his door pulled him from his thoughts.

“Just a sec!”, Shuuzou called and tightened the knot on his towel before going over to open the door.

He pulled the door open and his heart leapt into his throat when he saw Haizaki in front of his door, dressed in plain pyjamas, and with a scarily intense look on his face.

“Haizaki?”, he started, but his former kouhai already stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

“Tell me I didn’t fucking misread this whole situation”, Haizaki said under his breath. His hair was still wet in its messy half-bun and the pyjama shirt revealed another tattoo and arms so toned it made Shuuzou’s mouth water.

“Depends on the situation?”, Shuuzou said and Haizaki growled in impatience. Before Shuuzou could say anything more, Haizaki had grabbed him by the waist, pulled him close and kissed him.

Shuuzou’s heartrate just about doubled and he groaned into Haizaki’s mouth, arms wrapping around the taller man’s neck and pulling him as close as possible.

Haizaki whined deep in the back of his throat and Shuuzou pulled back to rid Haizaki of that annoying shirt.

“Oh really, in Akashi’s house?”, Haizaki teased, smirking.

“You started this”, Shuuzou said and ran his hands down a muscular chest, tracing the tattoo that had peeked out from his collar during dinner. “How far down does this go?”

Haizaki smirked. “Wanna find out?”

* * *

“I’m going to kill him”, Riko said, face dark.

Momoi gave her a strained smile. “That’s a felony, Riko-chan.”

“And _this_ isn’t?”, Riko snapped and jutted her thumb over her shoulder at the wall separating them from the room next to them. The wall that was currently doing a shit job at holding back the moans and shouts from their neighbours.

“I’m just glad for Nijimura-san”, Momoi said, but it sounded forced and both of them grimaced at a particularly loud moan. “Scratch that.”

Riko cracked her knuckles. “Permission to make Haizaki do suicides until he pukes?”

Momoi was about to calm her wife down, but then a loud “fuck, _Shougo_ ” came through the wall and she smiled. “Make him do it for a week.”


End file.
